


Flowers In February

by Puppy_Brat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Drunk Levi Ackerman, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Language of Flowers, M/M, Minor Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Sad Ending, Story within a Story, Symbolism, Tags Contain Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29444499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puppy_Brat/pseuds/Puppy_Brat
Summary: Levi goes to visit his boyfriend for Valentine's Day sporting a bouquet of flowers, of course.
Relationships: Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Flowers In February

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ancient Persian Love Story](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/760950) by bombaymann. 



> This was unplanned. It was _literally_ four in the morning when I said _'fuck it'_ and started to write. Sorry about my other Fics, but I had to since I am my own Valentine besides Erehhh.
> 
> Forgive me for any inaccuracies. There are multiple versions of this story, and the language sort of confused me because it used old English and stuff I think, which I almost failed in school, so if I got anything wrong I mean... Whatever, it's Fiction! The two quotes in bold, as well as the last one in italics are not mine. I have linked all sources appropriately.
> 
> I hope you all had/have a good day and if not, I can lend you a hug.

**_"There is a place I know, high up in the mountains of Kurdistan. Where the crow roams freely and the snow finally meets the sun. Where you can fall wild like a mountain and run with a stone in your hand. This is where our story sleeps.”_ **

* * *

Looking up at the moon from the threshold of his front entrance, Levi proceeded to grab his keys from off of the hook, flicking the last of the lights off as he then closed and locked it behind himself, snowflakes tickling his lashes as he peered up at the sky once more.

Today was Valentine's Day. That meant that Eren was probably waiting for him to drop in for a _not_ so unexpected surprise visit.

Readjusting his light grey peacoat, Levi began to make his way down the sidewalk with a bottle of hard liquor in hand that he had bought earlier that day, along with a small bouquet of red tulips as he headed in the direction towards where he knew his lover sat in wait of his arrival.

Poor Eren was probably freezing by now... He prayed to a God that he didn’t believe in that the gorgeous brunet wouldn’t be mad at him as he stumbled his way down the street, his nerves getting the better of him, paired with the drinks he had already consumed earlier that evening. 

Entering through a small black metal gate when he had arrived at his boyfriend’s location, the raven saw his lover sitting on a glossy white stone with writing on it, fiddling with something in his hands before his head shot up as he heard the crunch of snow that came from Levi’s approaching footsteps. 

Flashing his lover a wide grin that made the raven’s cheeks flush even further, his heart rate increasing that much quicker, Eren dropped whatever it was that he had been holding to wrap him up into a large embrace where he then proceeded to smother his face in needy kisses.

Chuckling as he set his things down on the ground beside them to hold onto him properly, the two men found themselves swaying back and forth in the night as a gentle snow fell around them.

“Took you long enough,” Eren teased, brushing his long bangs that had fallen out of their tie back as he pulled away from the other, gazing lovingly down at him as he reached across the small distance between them to run his thumb along Levi's soft, uncovered cheek. _“Where’s your scarf?_ It’s cold out here… Well, at least you wore mittens this time.”

Playfully shoving Eren away from himself as he pulled the edge of his jacket up to hide his face like a scolded child, his boyfriend finding the action to be highly amusing, Levi was immediately pulled back in, the brunet beauty claiming his lips for a proper kiss that lingered as long as a lover’s kiss should, making his knees weak as he kissed him back just as passionately.

“I miss you,” Levi whispered when they finally parted, Eren giving his boyfriend’s silky hair a long stroke as his slender digits gradually tangled in it, his nails scritching the short hairs of Levi’s undercut as the man clung onto his tall form, nuzzling his nose into the fabric of his fancy white suit that matched the stone behind him. 

“I miss you most,” Eren replied with a sad frown, continuing to hold onto the other all while giving him as much time as he needed to allow whatever built up emotions he had obtained over the weeks out.

“I hate it, Eren. I _hate_ being so alone.” Releasing a muffled hiccup that he didn’t even try to hide, the raven gripped Eren’s torso even tighter, his breath dissipating in the chilly air as he heaved a heavy sigh. “I wish you were there when I returned home from work. I hate how I have to meet you here all the damn time just to be able to see your face again. Sometimes, late at night while I’m laying in bed, I fear that one day I will forget it. It _haunts_ me, Eren. You’re _haunting_ me.” 

Taking a startled step back, hand placed over his heart in a touch of hurt, the taller male waited for Levi to compose himself as he had shrank down onto his haunches to touch the snow covered ground, eyes closed as he attempted to steady his breathing again.

“Forgive me,” Levi finally spoke after a solid seven minutes of him just crouching there, his hand that had been splayed out to hold himself steady now clenched into a tight fist. “I didn’t mean to say all that… It’s Valentine's Day, so we should… We should be out on a date like normal couples are doing right now, not partaking in whatever the hell _this is_ that I have chosen to do.”

Dropping to his knees beside Levi, Eren turned his sweetheart’s head towards himself using his thumb and forefinger so that he could face him properly, tired of seeing him staring at one spot on the ground when he was right there within his reach.

“Hey… It’s alright. It’s good to talk about your feelings. You know that I’ll always listen to you, Levi. I have for three plus years now. I will forever listen to you as long as you are still around to tell me stories.”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot...” Averting his eyes for a moment as they caught sight of the red bouquet that stuck out even in the dark, Levi picked the flowers up with shaky hands, petting the pedals with a featherlight touch before he handed them over to Eren, the plastic crinkling as he took them. “These are for you.” 

Biting his bottom lip as he twirled the bouquet around in his hands, fascinated by the way the moonlight illuminated them, Eren eventually lifted the flowers up to his nose, inhaling their sweet scent, awash with a sense of calm.

“Aren’t they beautiful? They just came into season perfectly in time for Valentine's Day. I searched everywhere for them, but I know how much you love your flowers, so it was worth the extra running around.” 

Nodding his head as he took in yet another large whiff, setting them down in his lap with a fond smile as he watched Levi open up the bottle of liquor that he had brought with him, downing _at least_ two shots worth easily, Eren silent as he witnessed him chugging it back without even a gag as if he were used to doing so, Levi offered it up to the younger male next who politely refused it with a wave of his right hand.

“Those flowers have a story to them, by the way. You said that you liked it when I told you stories, correct?” Not waiting for an answer, Levi shuffled his way up to the stone where he then slouched up against it, placing the bottle down beside himself with a hum as he began to think. “Where should I start…”

Joining beside his boyfriend once more, careful not to knock the bottle over when he did so, Levi swiped his tongue out to lick his lips, wetting them in order to better tell the story, even as the wind threatened to chap the thin skin.

“Around a thousand years ago in Turkey where the story apparently originated from or some shit, there was a legend reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet about two star-crossed lovers. It’s about a Princess named Historia, and Ymir, who was a stonemason… Whatever the hell that is.”

Taking another swig from out of the bottle, Levi laced their fingers together as best he could when wearing gloves as he set the liquor back down on the opposite side of himself instead, Eren continuing to remain silent as the wind filled in the empty spaces for him.

Howling loudly around them as it swirled the loose snow, rustling the skeletal branches which were covered in a layer of ice, clacking together with every gust, sounding just like the bones that they resembled, Levi cleared his throat as he began to recount what he remembered in a semi-slurred voice.

“Basically there was a King… Uh, King Uri Reiss the second who loved a Christian princess named Historia Reiss. From what I can recall, that Uri guy had seen the Princess bathing nude or something at the same time as Ymir did but hadn’t recognized her because of the peasant clothes she was wearing or something…?”

Giving a shrug of his shoulders, Levi felt Eren squeeze his hand in encouragement, a fond smile curving the corner of his lips that was gone just as quickly as it had come.

“Before all of that, though, Ymir had spotted the Princess somehow and fell in love with her almost instantly. Obviously the Princess didn’t love her back at first because how could she, with royal blood, love a stonecutter?”

“Rejecting her, Ymir who was now in despair would go to the mountains and spend her days without food, playing her flute in praise of Historia. At last people probably had enough of her garbage music because they all thought to devise a plan to acquaint two of them for a second time.”

Taking hold of the bottle, ignoring the frown Eren was wearing, Levi stared into it with a scowl, swirling the liquid around, listening to the way it sloshed inside of the glass. 

“So she evidently saw her again and love which lived in Ymir also began to breathe in the Princess, although she didn’t dare admit it because a stonecutter trying to win the hand of a princess was practically unheard of. It was ridiculous.”

Bringing the alcohol up to his lips, Levi paused as he huffed out a laugh, the story probably a pretty boring one to listen to. Scrambled if anything since he barely even knew it besides what he had read in a book once.

“King Rod Reiss, her father, caught wind of their meeting but was naturally indignant at the discovery, as he had no child other than Historia who was busy pining away for Ymir. Knowing this, he proposed an idea to his daughter that her lover, being of common birth, must accomplish a task such as no man may be able to do, and then, and only then, might he be recommended to her favor.”

Shaking his head back and forth, Levi took yet another swig.

“Truly disgusting how those bastards came up with a wicked plan to vanquish his love-rival, Ymir, in an attempt to get the freckled girl to either back off or die so that Uri would have Historia all to himself.”

Releasing his boyfriend’s hand with a groan as his head had begun to ache, the raven closed his eyes, resting the back of his skull against the cool stone.

“What wound up happening is that they sent Historia to tell her lover that she was to be exiled to Behistun mountain to dig a canal in the rocky land among the hills. The deal was that the canal must be six lances in width, three lances deep, and forty miles long. I mean, it made sense cause that was her job, right?”

“Without any kind of complaint about it, she shouldered her spade and started off to the hills to commence the gigantic task. That Ymir worked hard and broke the stones for years, for some reason. Honestly, I’d say that’s going a bit too far for a crumb of pussy but it is what it is. Her choice I guess. It was said that she would start her work early in the morning when it was still dark outside, and never ceased until no man could see one yard on each side. Rinse and repeat.”

Hearing a bubble of laughter leave his lover made that smile of his return, Levi sipping from the bottle as he knew that Eren wasn’t about to share it with him.

“At least that Historia girl secretly visited her. She watched the hard working Ymir sleeping with her taysha (spade) under her head, and her body stretched on the bed of stones. She noticed, with all the hormones… _Pride._ I meant pride, of a lover, that she’d cut the Princess’s figure in the rocks at each six yards as a way to mark them, I would assume. The bitch returned without her even knowing. That’s the part of the story I hate the most. Imagine working your ass off for years to not even see, hear, smell, or touch your supposed lover.”

Tossing the now-empty bottle off to the side, his tolerance rather high which was why the raven was able to drink so much and not get sick, Levi pulled out a blade that he had hidden in his back pocket, holding it out to study it as he no longer saw Eren in his peripherals.

“The canal was pretty much done but her task was not yet finished, for she still had yet to dig a well in the rocky beds of the mountains. She eventually got half-way through, and would probably have completed it, when some people... or a person, I don’t know, explained that his artifice had failed. Ymir had not perished in the attempt, which meant that if all the conditions were fulfilled as they promised to be soon, his daughter would marry Ymir.”

Tossing the blade up into the air, Levi caught it easily, repeating the action over and over in nothing but pure muscle memory from his teenage years on the dangerous streets.

“It was then suggested that an old woman should be sent to tell Ymir that Historia was dead. I guess their goal was to have her become so heart broken that she’d leave. It was a risky trick, but they decided to try it anyway. It ended up working… Sort of.”

Catching the blade for the last time, Levi wielded it like Ymir’s spade, pointing it outwards into the graveyard where he still sat.

“What wound up happening is that the old bat told Ymir that the Princess, her precious Historia, was dead. Instead of using logic like any sane person would, she bought the act and proceeded to jam the metal into her head, dying there on the spot. Not sure if the old woman was a witness to it but judging by how Historia ran to see for herself, she probably told somebody.”

Reaching over to place the flowers in the holder attached to his lover’s headstone, Levi caressed the petal of a tulip that hung slightly over the plastic wrapping, eyes trailing after it as it detached and fell to the ground.

“Upon discovering her body lying there to rot, she too killed herself in the same way with the same blade, and as their blood pooled together in the canal that Ymir had spent all of that pointless time on, it formed a singular red tulip. According to the history of the story, no water ever flowed into the canal, leaving the two lovers entombed in one and the same grave. Forever.”

Swallowing thickly as he fought back his tears, Levi rested a tender hand on Eren’s smiling image, his youthful features forever encased in that stone monument. 

“Hey... Eren. Do you think our love was like that?” Leaning forwards in a bow until his forehead landed approximately where his boyfriend’s would be beneath the concrete and dirt, the raven at long last allowed his tears to flow, clutching the blade in a firm grip as he shook violently with his sobs. “Do you think… If I would have been there that same day to mix our blood together, that ours would have also caused a tulip to bloom?”

Sniffling as he sat back up to stare at the blade in his hand Levi looked between it and the tulips that taunted him with their blood red colour, symbolizing eternal love.

 _“...I think it would have._ Perhaps there is only one way to find out. For now, I am left to wonder if it ever will...” 

* * *

**_"There's a place where now the two lovers sleep. Side by side. Historia and her Ymir. That place is very high up in the mountains of Kurdistan. And can only be reached when the snow comes washing down in spring. And stains blood red the cheeks of maidens. If you want to meet the two of them, you will have to ask the crow to take you there."_ **

  * _This writing is dedicated to all those whose hearts have been struck by love and to the one and only star in the sky of my heart....‘All else disappears when the thought of the beloved occupies the mind of the lover.’_



**Author's Note:**

> Ah hah... Ahahahah...
> 
> [Meaning of the red tulip.](https://gardenerdy.com/meaning-of-red-tulips/) \- [Part 2](https://www.learnreligions.com/tulip-magic-legends-and-folklore-4009866)


End file.
